able to prove to you individually that no person has the honor ofbeing more completely than me, Sir, your very humble and veryobedient servant,De Bienville.From New Orleans, the eighteenth of December, 1718.Above was written: To M. Don Martin de Alarc6n, Knight of SaintJames, Captain General and Governor General of the province ofTexas.The 17th [of December, 1718], I had keel-hauled3 from onboard the vessel of M. Bellanger two mutineers of my troop;the same day we departed in company with M. de Boisbriand,who was going to the Illinois with two big boats and threepirogues.The 2oth, we passed by Vieux Tinsas [Old Taensa],4 situatedten leagues from New Orleans. The concession of M. Demeuve,managed by MM. de Laire, Chastan, and de la Roue, is locatedhere, but is in a very bad condition.The 23rd, we stopped at the village of the Homas [Humas],5located twelve leagues from the Tinsas, on the right going upthe river; the savage village is half a league inland; it is situatedin a level country; the houses or huts surround a great space; theyare sixty in number, which are able to make up two hundredsKeel-hauling was punishment by dragging under the keel of a ship.4The Taensa tribe was related in customs and language to the Natchez. Shortlybefore the historic period they must have separated from the Natchez and lived onLake St. Joseph, an ox-bow cut-off of the Mississippi River in present TensasParish, Louisiana, where La Salle (1682), Tonti (1696 and 1690o), and Davion, LaSource, and De Montigny (1698), and D'Iberville (1700) found them. In 17o6fear of a Yazoo and Chickasaw attack caused the Taensa to take refuge with theBayogoula, whom they afterwards treacherously attacked and almost annihilated.After this the Taensa occupied several locations along the lower Mississippi, one ofwhich was doubtless called by La Harpe Vieux Tinsas. Later, Bienville assignedland to them near Mobile, Alabama, then capital of Louisiana. In 1764 they movedto the Red River to escape passing under English rule with the French landseast of the Mississippi. Still later, they moved to Bayou Boeuf and from there, about1803, to the north end of Grand Lake, where a small bayou bears their name.5The Humas were a Choctaw tribe, in earliest French times, living on the eastbank of the Mississippi seven leagues above Red River. In 1699 they had 14o huts,or 350 families. A Baton Rouge, or Red Pole, on the site of Louisiana's presentcapital, marked the boundary between them and the Bayogoulas on the south.The Tonicas, fleeing from the Chickasaws, in 1706, settled with the Humas. Theylater rose up and killed most of their host. The remaining Humas settled nearNew Orleans, and then, sometimes afterwards, in the vicinity of present Houma,Louisiana, where several hundred half breeds still lived in 1912.

More Options

Resources4 Educators

We offer teaching materials that connect your students with primary source historical documents to dramatically enrich their learning. See all resources.

Feedback:

If you are having problems, need to report errors, or have questions or comments for the staff, please use our
Feedback Form.

Support the Portal

The Portal to Texas History operated by the UNT Libraries provides free online access to Texas historical materials to millions of users a year. Please consider supporting The Portal to Texas History today. Learn More.